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GROUNDS staff at the Ipswich Turf Club will keep a close eye on the weather this week as forecast rain may disturb the meeting scheduled for Thursday.

It has been well documented over the past three years how the Bundamba racing surface has struggled to cater for heavy rain coinciding with a race meeting.

This is due to the almost nil drainage in areas of the track following refurbishment works by Racing Queensland in early 2014 to remove undulations, which had become noticeable after the 2011 floods, prior to worsening in the ensuing couple of years.

This lack of drainage causes water to lay on the surface in any areas that are level or low lying.

Such circumstances further cause drowning of turf in those areas and an inability of the surface to stand up to regular racing.

One such area is currently at the mouth of the 1350 metre chute.

Racing Queensland programmers are considering action over the next couple of months to minimise the damage to the area in the lead up to the Ipswich Cup meeting.

An important race on Cup Day, which is set down for June 17, is the listed Eyeliner Stakes run over the 1350 distance. It is vital to ensure there are no problems with that chute come mid-June.

Stewards are planning to visit the track today and/or tomorrow to determine any steps that need to be taken in relation to the two 1350 metre races programmed for Thursday.

Meanwhile, there are encouraging signs from Racing Queensland in relation to potential remedial works for the track.

Infrastructure analysts have been studying the Ipswich course proper and analysing steps that could be taken to repair the surface back to the state it was at three years ago - minus the undulations which were sorted by the works of 2014.

Three-state winner

JOCKEY Regan Bayliss, of the well-known Ipswich racing family, is having a wow of a time lately.

On Saturday, he continued the good form by riding a winner at the Rosehill Golden Slipper meeting.

This meant the young prospect rode three black type winners across three states of Australia last week.

The Group 1 Newmarket Handicap at Flemington with Redkirk Warrior led into the Group 2 Adelaide Cup with Annus Mirrabilis on Monday which gave Regan a fitting 20th birthday present.

On Saturday, it was Derryn who won the listed Darby Munroe Stakes in Sydney to give Regan a three-state treble.

Derryn's co-trainer David Hayes gave the talented young rider a big wrap mentioning his strong work ethic after the race on national television.

Racing commentators across the country are also raving about the quickly emerging talent.

Winx getting better

IT is difficult to imagine, however the world's greatest race mare Winx seems to be getting better with age.

The Chris Waller trained galloper is surely laying claims to being the best racehorse in the world after collecting her 16th consecutive win on Saturday.

Despite again encounter- ing a heavy track, Winx was awesome, toying with rivals in a 7.3 length win. Other Group 1 winners on Saturday included She Will Reign in the Golden Slipper, Russian Revolution in the Galaxy, Our Ivanhowe in the Ranvet and Gingernuts in the Rosehill Guineas.

The William Reid Stakes at Moonee Valley on Friday night is the final Autumn Group 1 for Melbourne.

In Sydney, it is back to Rosehill for the BMW and Storm Queen Stakes prior to reverting back to Randwick for the two-week Championships.

Next meeting

After a fortnight off, racing returns on Thursday prior to a meeting on Friday, March 31. Three race meetings are programmed for next month - Friday , April 7 and Wednesdays April 19 and 26.